The Pains of Fatherhood
by Redstrikerborg
Summary: A look at what it might have been like to juggle the Order and being a parent at the same time. -ON HIATUS
1. The Drink and The Arrow

**(Altair, Malik, Darim, Sef and Maria Belong to Ubisoft) (The rest are my OC's)**

**(Starring Altair, Malik, Darim, Sef and Maria)**

Altair moaned as he slightly turned his head to the right, he could feel the soft pillow under his head. He twitched his hands and felt the blankets of his bed, he groaned turning his head to the left. He opened his eyes to see everything swaying, after a little while of opening and closing his eyes for short periods, they finally came into focus. He looked out the window to see it was early evening, he stared out it for sometime perplex. Why was he in bed at this time? The back of his head started to roar at him. He lifted his left hand to the back of his head confused, he wondered why his arm felt like lead and was alarmed to feel bandages around his head, his arm fall back to his side. He could hear someone enter his room and lifted his head to see who.

"Greetings Altair. I so glad to see your awake." Asiya watched him drop his head back to the pillow, with a brief flash of pain on his face. She walked over to bed and sat on the edge facing him.

"What happened? What's wrong with me now?" He asked confused.

"Before I answer that, I would like to make sure your okay. Can you more your hands and feet alright?" She looked concerned.

He stared baffled at her for asking him such a question. He lift his hands and twirled them, he leaned up on his elbows and moved his feet. "I feel like I've been sparing with someone for 6 hours straight, but they feel fine to me."

She gave a sigh of relief. "Good, good." She handed him cup of herbal tea. "This should wake you up some more. Tell me everything you can remember from last night till now."

He drank the whole thing before putting the cup on the table beside the bed. He laid back down and rubbed his eyes as he tried to remember.

"Altair, will you be coming to bed soon?" Maria asked him before checking to make sure Darim and Sef were asleep.

He stretched his back and arms, hearing a few cracks before yawning. "Yes, as soon as I organize everything I want to show the Rafiqs." He relaxed and bent over the desk again.

"But they won't be here for two days, take a break and come to bed." She insisted and folded her arms.

"That maybe so, but all I can hear in the back of my head is Malik saying don't put off something that can be done now or it's better to be prepared now then to be unprepared later." He shook his head and smirked. "Well, something like that anyway, he always seems to have an endless supply of witty remarks."

She sighed in defeat. "Alright then, just don't spend all night at that desk," She saw him nod and left.

He sat there writing and crumpling some of the pages before he was satisfied with what he had. He was writing down the various new training methods he had come up with recently and was making copies for each Rafiq to take back with them once they returned to their bureau, it was also a chance for the old Rafiqs to meet the two new Rafiqs that controlled their strongholds in Cyprus and Baghdad. A bright light kept bothering him till he looked up and saw the sun rising, he cursed before stretching. He felt his legs and lower back crack, he figured it was better to get some sleep now then none at all. Once at his room, he took off his robes and ever so quietly laid on top of the blankets of his bed, he cursed once more when he felt his wife stir from her sleep.

"Altair? Did you just get to bed?" She asked him in disbelief.

He hesitated before answering. "Yes... Please kill me later? I would like to sleep first." He mumbled.

She got up to get dressed, she knew her sons would be waking up shortly as well. "Oh, don't worry. I intend too." She heard him chuckle and watched him roll onto his stomach. She folded the blanket over him before she left.

The sound of knocking woke him, he groaned ignoring it and tried to go back to sleep. He heard another knock. "Go away." He demanded before closing his eyes again, after a pause he figured they obeyed.

"I'm sorry to disturb you Master, but the Rafiqs have asked I summon you." The Assassin waited for the response.

After a short pause he sighed. "Tell them I'll be there shorty." He pushed himself off the bed and put on a clean set of Grandmaster robes. He splashed some water on his face before walking down the hallway. He had a few of the Assassins rooms converted into a place of living, such as somewhere they could eat and lounge together, this was mostly on Maria's request. Most of the Assassins were living in the village now enjoying the time they could have with their own families.

"Altair?" His wife called to him.

He had just passed the door and took a few steps back to peer in. "Yes?" He saw Maria and his two children eating at the table.

"Come eat something before you leave." She demanded more then asked.

"But the Rafiqs are waiting for me." He said as he pointed down the hall.

"They can wait a few minutes more, now sit." She placed a bowl of porridge and some bread on the table for him.

He sighed before taking a seat and started to eat.

"Dad, how come you never sleep?" Sef, his five year old asked.

"I do sleep, I just can't right now." He said amused as he rubs his sons hair, Sef started to giggle. When he finished eating he got up and kissed his wife on the cheek, before he left he turned to his seven year old. "Darim, I want you on your best behaviour today." He saw his son look up at him. "I mean it." He demanded and saw him nod. He left to go down stairs and meet with the Rafiq in the library. "Safety and peace bothers, please forgive my tardiness."

"Safety and peace Altair, I'm sorry we arrived a day early, I guess we are just eager to hear your new plans." The Rafiq from Acre mused.

"Nothing to apologise for brother." He was glad Malik's nagging had some merit sometimes.

He begun explaining the new changes he made to Masyaf, soon they were all looking over a map to where Altair thought might be good places to try and set up another Stronghold. Altairs eyes grow wide and he arcked his head back just enough to see an arrow fly across his eyes and embed its self on top of the bookshelf. The other Rafiqs had jumped back and drawn their weapons eagerly searching for the traitor that would dare assassinate the Grandmaster. Altair chuckled rather nervously at them before sighing and dropping his head down. They looked at him confused wondering how he could be so calm after almost being killed. "Excuse me a moment bothers." They watched him walk over to the arrow, pull it out of the book case and walk to the entrance of the garden. They heard him yell Darim and watched as a small child ran up to him.

"I thought I told you to be on your best behaviour." Altair crossed his arms still holding the arrow. "What would happen if you hit me?"

"But I'll never hit you!" Darim smiled at his father. "Your the best Assassin, no one can hit you!" He cheerfully replied.

He sighed. "That maybe so but one day you might catch me off guard and what will you do then?"

"But I'll never catch you off guard!" He replied and tried to get the arrow back.

He let out another sigh. "Either way please stop it, we have training dummies for a reason. Use those instead." He saw Darim nod and gave him back the arrow. He then headed back upstairs, were he was greeted by Sef holding a cup out to him. He crouched down to eye level before taking the cup.

"Here daddy, I've made you some tea." He smiled at his father.

"Thank you Sef. How about you make some for our guests as well?" He rubbed his sons hair with his free hand.

"Okay." He said with a large grin on his face before running off.

He drank the tea while he walked back to the Rafiqs. "Sorry about the interruption, now where were we?" He placed the empty cup on the desk.

"I'm rather impressed your oldest sons able to shot an arrow at you from that far away." The Rafiq from Damascus said. "I'll keep it in mind to stay a few feet away from you just incase he tries again." He mused.

"I think its nice to see children running around the castle. I've never seen this place look so alive." The Rafiq Acre remarked. "It's seems the Assassins that have families are more careful when on missions, we've had far less deaths in Acre in the past few years."

"I find it disgraceful that you can't seem to control your son, Altair." Said Abbas, Jerusalems Rafiq. "Assassins with families also have an added fear that their families will be in danger making them weak."

"Your wrong about that Abbas, but I don't expect you to understand the strength it can give you." He glared at him. "This is why I encourage them to have a family if they choose have one. Anyway, I have some novices in the training ring willing to show you the new technics I mentioned earlier in the letters." They followed Altair as he explained in more detail, he had just reached the last few steps of the stairs.

"Altair?" Someone asked.

"Yes?" He turned around and looked at them confused. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Altair frowned in confusion. "That's all I seem to remember till you came in asking me these strange questions."

Asiya sighed again "Good, then you really are okay."

"I don't understand." He sat up on his elbows. "How did I get here and why am I injured?"

She chuckled. "I'll fill in the blanks." She motioned for him to lay back down and so he did. "The Rafiqs told me as you explained you started to slur your words and were holding onto the railing of the stairs rather tightly. When they asked you what was wrong, you turned to them looking confused before you eyes rolled up into the back of your head and fell backwards off the stairs. You scared them all pretty badly including the Assassins that were on guard, they were distraught when you wouldn't wake up and saw that you were bleeding from the back of your head." She saw the look of horror and embarrassment appear on his face. "It took me a while to figure out what caused you to pass out. It wasn't till I noticed I was missing a sleeping elixir and your son Sef saying he put it in your tea because you told him, you couldn't sleep. Maria finally got Sef to stop crying and saying he was sorry he killed you. I was then concerned about how hard you hit your head, you needed several stitches to close the wound and there was the fear that you might be paralysed or have memory lose. I think if it wasn't for you always wearing your hood, it probably would have been worse."

He put his hands over his face. "I can't believe this... I have a son that determined to use me as a practice dummy and another that's going to end up poisoning me."

She chuckled at him. "I don't think Sef will ever do that again, He was really afraid he killed you."

He sat up suddenly. "I was with the Rafiqs... What are they doing now?" He rubbed his face with both hands again. "They'll never let me live this down."

"Maria took the liberty to explain your ideas to the Rafiqs after she found the papers on your desk and I told them what caused you to pass out suddenly was the lack of sleep you had gotten in the last few days. You've been known to do that so they didn't question it." She shrugged at him.

"Maria? Why didn't Malik do that?" He looked at her confused as she started to blush. "That reminds me, I haven't seen him in a few days." He got to go look for him.

"No! Please stop!" She held out her arms in an attempt to stop him from going any further down the hallway. "He doesn't want to be disturbed! You need rest! umm...umm... Maria was calling for you earlier!" This seemed to stop him as she sighed with relief.

"Stand a side Asiya... I don't know why your trying to stop me." He knocked on Malik's door, after a pause he replied.

"Go away." Malik shouted.

"Malik, it's me. I'm coming in." He stated before opening the door.

"No! Go away novice!" He yelled.

Altair pushed open the door. "Would you stop calling me that already?" He stared at Malik confused, his face was red and sweat fell from his forehead. He looked to Asiya. "What's wrong with him?"

She sighed. "He has a cold, sorry Malik I tried."

"A cold?" Altair frowned. "Only a cold?" He said disappointed as folded his arms and leaned on the wall next to the door.

"Do you honestly wish me ill?" Malik asked in disbelieve before he coughed.

"Of course not." Altair looked to the ceiling failing to hide the smile that crossed his face.

He sighed. "You never going to let that go, will you?

Altair looked at him. "No, I'm rather determined to find any excuse to have you pay him a visit. He had such a wonderful collection of red crosses all over the place." He casually tilted his head to the right to hear an arrow bounce off the wall before he sighed heavily.

"I see Darim's still using you for target practice?" He chuckled before he noticed the bandages around his head. "What happened to your head?"

"You don't want to know." Altair stated.

"Darim finally got a hit in, didn't he?" He laughed before coughing again.

"If only, it be far less embarrassing then what really happened." He saw Malik raise a brow and explained what happened to only hear Malik burst into a series of laughs and coughs. "It's not that funny Malik! I could have died."

"Oh please, you would kill death himself if he tried to take your life before your time." He was trying to compose himself before coughing a lot.

"I'll let you rest now, safety and peace Malik." He heard him mutter it back before he left to head to his room.

Altair walked down the dimly light hallway thinking of the events of the day again. He let out a yell as he stumbled forward, falling to his knees and his left hand holding his right shoulder. He was somewhat horrified to see any arrow tip sticking out of it. He heard someone running up to him and he groaned loudly.

"Oh no! Oh no! I didn't mean it!" Darim panicked. "I sorry! I'm so sorry! Here I'll pull it out." He yanked on the arrow to hear his father cry in protest.

"Darim! Don't touch it!" He hissed at him, he trembled slightly.

"I'm sorry, I so sorry!" Darim started to cry. "Please don't die! I don't want you to die!" Tears streamed down his face.

"Go get Asiya in Malik's room and tell her to meet me in my room." He groaned loudly again as he got to his feet and started walking towards his room.

"Okay, Don't die! I'll get Asiya!" He said still in a panic as he ran down the hallway screaming her name.

Moments later Asiya walked into his room to find him slumped over the desk shaking rather violently. "Oh dear."

"Please save him! You can't let him die! I didn't mean to do it!" Darim cried tugging at her sleeve.

She crouched down to eye level with him and wipes his tears away. "Don't worry, he'll be alright. Go tell your mom what happened, she'll want to know." She heard him sniffle and nod, then ran off to find her. She was amused to hear the agonizing groans come from Altair as she looked at him. "You can stop acting now, his gone." She watched him relax and start laughing.

"Do you think it was convincing enough to have him stop shooting at me?" He asked as he straighten.

"I think so, did he really get you?" She inquired, she felt honoured to able to witness his casual side. He could only act that way for a select few and with his current attitude it was hard to tell if the arrow really injured his shoulder.

"Sadly yes. Can you remove it? My arm starting to go numb." He sighed.

"And you let him?" She went over to inspect it.

"It was the only time his aim was off." He shrugged then tensed.

"You'll never stop surprising me." She laughed. She broke the arrow shaft and pulled it out, she felt him tense before releasing his breath. She stitched and bandages the new wound and told him to lay down and rest before leaving.

"Asiya?" He called while laying on his stomach.

"Yes?" She turned to look at him.

"Don't go to far." He said as he yawned.

"Why?" She asked puzzled.

"Because my wife is going to try and kill me next." He chuckled.


	2. I Want A Girl

I have these moments where I come up with an idea and unless I write it down, it will just fester and it won't allow me to think of anything else... This was one of those moment.

Someone asked me to continue _The Pains of Fatherhood_ story even though it was intended to be a one shot so here you go!

I re-read this today since I was going through some of my older yet to be published stories and thought... how did I even come up with this dribble?

I guess I just love driving Altair up a wall lol.

(Altair, Maria, Malik, Sef and Darim belong to Ubisoft.)

(The rest are my Oc's)

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><p>Winter was just around the corner in Masyaf so it was a chilly night. This how ever didn't make Masyaf any less busy. Malik was away with Asiya in Baghdad on a mission, leaving Altair to handle all the work by himself. This didn't bother him, he was more then capable of doing the work but having two people share the work load made it go faster and better strategies to be planed.<p>

Altair was sitting at the desk in the library, reading the reports sent from the Rafiqs in the other cities. There was a lot of turmoil in the new strongholds, specifically the one near Egypt. Rumours were that Templars were back to their old tricks and were searching for another Piece of Eden. He had sent Amin there to investigate before he took it upon himself to make sure the Templars never got there hands on another one. Only a select few could be trusted with the information about the Pieces of Eden. Altair couldn't just get up and leave to chase down rumours anymore. He was Grandmaster after all and had a family to look after. Had it not been for that, he'd be more then happy to be out there.

Altair lend his chin in his left hand as he read the reports in the other. He was enjoying the peacefulness. His five and seven year old sons were a sleep for the night while Maria sat near the window on some pillows reading something. The only noise that could be heard was the crickets and fountain outside. Maria flipped the page when she looked up. "Altair?" She called softly.

"Hmm?" Was the only thing he could muster. He didn't look away from the report he was reading.

"Have you ever thought about having a girl?" She asked.

"A girl what?" He asked. He was more focused on the page then what the question meant.

There was a long pause before Maria spoke again. "Altair!" She yelled.

Her shout almost made him fall out of his chair. "What?" He said in his surprise and looked at her.

"Have you ever wondered what it might be like to have a daughter?" She tried asking again.

"No." He said bluntly and returned to reading the reports.

"Would you of wanted a daughter?" She inquired.

"Not really." He said. He wasn't putting any thought into his answer.

"Why? Because girls are weak and wouldn't fit into the Order?" She said jumping to conclusions.

"Yes." He said for the sake of agreeing, there was still a lot of reports to read and messages to reply to. Without Malik's aid it took twice as long to get them done, leaving him with little time to be distracted. "Ah!" Something collided with his head, knocking him off the chair and falling to the floor. He lay on his back for a moment as stars danced in his vision. He pushed himself up on his elbows while his right leg remained on the chair and glared at her. "What was that for?" He growled.

"Have you forgotten who you're speaking to?" She demanded, standing up from her seat.

He got up and dusted himself off before thinking of the previous question. "I would hardly call you a girl." He dodged another book being whipped at him. "Hey! What's gotten into you?" He yelled. "Come on. I didn't mean it like that." He said before picking the two books off the floor and placing them on the desk.

"What would you call me then?" She growled and folded her arms.

"You're a strong willed woman but you have to admit that you're not a traditional one." He said and lend on the desk. "What's this about?"

"What if Darim and Sef turned out to be girls? Would you of loved them?" She asked glaring at him.

He looked at her confused as he tried to figure out why they were even having this conversation. "Of course I would have...Why would you think differently?"

"Because girls aren't allowed to be full fledged Assassins." She stated.

"That doesn't mean I wouldn't have loved them." He rubbed his eyes in frustration.

"So if they had been girls, would you have wanted to keep trying for a boy?" She asked.

"Are you trying to tell me, you'd like to have more children?" He asked almost worried.

"No, I was just thinking what it might be like to have a daughter." She stated.

"So you do want to have more children." He said bluntly.

"I didn't say that." She glared at him.

"Then why are we talking about this? You almost killed me when you were in labour with Sef and swore to never have another child." He felt a shiver go through him from the memory of that night as he looked up at the ceiling.

She snorted. "I did not, stop being so melodramatic."

"I wasn't the one being melodramatic." He said under his breath.

"What was that?" She inquired not being able to hear what he said.

"Nothing...I was clearing my throat." He lied nervously. "To answer your question. No, I haven't given much thought to what it might have been like to have a daughter but I didn't think I would have wanted to have children till you where pregnant with Darim."

"I've been thinking about it. How it might have been fun to dress her up in little dresses till she was old enough to decide what she wanted wear and be. I'd name her Lily." She smiled thinking about it.

He blinked at her. "You've already named the girl we don't have? And I thought you hated dresses and all that girly stuff?"

"I only started to hate it when I was forced to play the role of royalty and didn't have a choice." She frowned. "What's wrong with the name Lily"

"Nothing... I just thought I'd be able to have a say in what our daughters name might be." He stated.

"Why can't we name our daughter Lily" She asked upset that he wouldn't have wanted to name their daughter that.

"I never said we couldn't... I'm just-" He stopped himself and rubbed his face. "Forget it, I'm not going to argue over a child's name that we don't even have yet. Should we have a daughter we'll name her Lily." He agreed and sat down to continue his work.

She sat back down on the pillows and watched him for a few minutes. "So?"

"So what?" He asked still looking at the report that was proving to be impossible to finish.

"You wouldn't mind having a daughter?" She asked.

"Why are we still talking about this?" He asked irritated.

"I want to know." She stated. "Would you treat her like you would've your sons? What if she wanted to become an Assassin, would you let her become a full fledged one should she prove worthy? Or would you use her like some pawn and marry her off to an ally?" She snarled as she remembered her past.

"Enough!" He yelled and slammed his hands on the table as he got up. "When have I EVER given you the impression that I would do such a thing? I believe our sons have the right to choose what they want to do in life. I'm not forcing them to become Assassins nor am I using them as pawns to link with allies so why would I treat our daughter any differently? I wouldn't of cared if both Darim or Sef had turned out to be girls. I simply want to teach them the tools they'll need to survive." He sighed out of frustration and sat back down.

"So if she proved to be a good Assassin, would you allow her to be a full fledged one?" She shifted on the pillows. She watch him turn the chair around and leaned his arms and head on the back of the chair. There was a long silence as he stared at her emotionless. "Well?"

He frowned when his concentration broke. "I don't know. It didn't occur to me that a women could reach the ranks of Master Assassin But-" He didn't bother dodging the pillow that was whipped at his face and stared at her blankly.

"I never thought you'd be so closed minded." She huffed and crossed her arms.

"You didn't let me finish." He sighed. "But thinking about it now, there are two deserving of that title right now. Should our daughter want to become an Assassin and should she prove worthy enough of the title then yes... I would allow her to be a Master Assassin." He watched her get up and walk behind him. He had an idea what she was going to do, she began messaging his shoulders. He knew she only did that when she wanted something and sighed because it normally worked. "Does this mean you want to try and have a girl?" He questioned, relaxed under her fingers.

"We might not have to." She stated and continue to message his shoulders when she felt him tense.

"You're pregnant?" He turned his head to look at her from the corner of his eye.

"I don't know." She said nervously. "Would you be upset if I was?"

"No... I wasn't upset the last two times you told me. Why are you all of a sudden second guessing me now?" He straighten and got up to look at her.

"Because Darim and Sef are hand full as it is and you have the Order to worry about." She turned away form his gaze.

He sighed. "It doesn't matter. I would love any other children we may have and I'm more then capable of running the Order while still being a parent." He hugged her before taking a seat back at the desk and started to work again.

Satisfied with that answer, she picked up the pillow and book. She sat down on the pillows again and looked for the page she was at. "Altair?" She called again.

"Yes?" He said and turned, giving her his full attention.

"What if I had twins?" She asked.

He blankly stared at her for a moment before sighing. "This is going to be a long night..." He said as he leaned his forehead in his left hand.


	3. Summer Days

**Warning: **I describe a **torture method** they might of preformed back then. I don't feel I've graphically described it but some might not want to know lol. Just a heads up.

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><p>It was hot, hotter then normal but Altair didn't care. He was napping against a tree in his Grandmasters clothing. There was nothing for him to worry about, they were far from the path next to a huge lake with an abandoned house.<p>

The Assassins controlled this area so the chance of them running into trouble wasn't a concern. A breeze would cross his face giving him much needed relief from the heat. If it wasn't for the shade of the tree he would bake under his hood.

Every so often he could hear someone running down the dock and jumping into the water, at first this would startle him and made him tense but he got used to the sound. Maria had taught his sons to swim and they were enjoying themselves.

It had been unbearably hot lately in Masyaf and Maria suggested they leave and enjoy themselves somewhere near water to cool off. He of course refused but after much complaining from his wife and children, he agreed to go.

He was enjoying the time away from Masyaf, everything was running smoothly for the moment. The Templars had gone into hiding making it harder to be tracked, most mission were months travel away now and it was the first time in years the Assassins held most of the power, so it been rather peaceful and boring.

"Are you really going to sleep under that tree all day?" Maria tilted her head to the right.

Altair yawned keeping his eyes closed. "Do I need to be doing something else?"

"Aren't you hot in all that clothing?" She folded her arms.

He glared at her, he knew were this conversation was going, "No, I'm comfortable in the shade."

"So the beads of sweat falling from your face mean nothing?" She sighed. "Why don't you come for a swim and cool off?"

"I thought we had an agreement." He sighed. "I only agreed to come here because you agreed to let me do as I please without question."

"Yes and I have but I didn't agree for you to neglect your family the entire time sleeping under a tree, you've done that for the past three days now." She glared at him.

"How am I neglecting you? I'm sitting mer feet away listening to you and the children splash in the water."

She crouched down in front of him. "What's been bothering you?" .

He turned his gaze away from her. "Why do you think something is bothering me? Shouldn't the fact that I been sleeping under the tree mean I'm not worried about anything?"

"Well, you're pretty relaxed now but you seemed stressed when we first got here." She touched his right hand that was resting next to him.

"I was tired from the extremely long ride it took to get here. This trip was your idea, why can't I just relax here?" He said frustrated.

She hold his face in her hands so she could look him in the eye. "Why don't you come sit on the dock then if you don't want to swim, please?"

He sighed and got up. "Fine, but only for a short while."

He knew she was determined to get him near the water by any means necessary. If all she was asking was for him to sit on the dock then the least he could do was attempted that.

He saw his 6 and 8 year old sons swimming off in the distances and started swimming back as they saw him approach. He sat down on the edge and crossed his legs while his wife dove into the water and swam out to them. It was breezier out on the dock and the wind was cooler then by the tree but the sun made it hotter in his dark clothing.

He laid on his back and spread his arms out while letting his legs hang off the edge. He turned his head to the left and looked at all the greenery of the area, the water shimmered in the breeze and the leafs rustled in the wind. He found it ironic that he was admiring this view. He was startled by one of his sons splashing him in the face and sat up. He glared at him after wiping the water away with his sleave.

"Come on Dad, come swim with us." Sef tugged at his pant leg making him cross his legs again.

"Maybe another time." Sef splashed water at him again. "Stop that!" He hissed. Sef found this very amusing and continued. He got up to leave at the same time Darim was running down the dock. Darim wasn't expecting his father to get up and crashed into him causing him fall in.

The water was colder then he'd expected and temporarily paralysed him. Visions of his past flashed in front of his eyes causing him to panic and inhale water. The next thing he knew he was back on the dock violently coughing up water on his hands and knees.

From the corner of his eye, he saw his children and wife stare at him confused while the visions of his past still bombarded him. Just when he thought that he was getting over his fear of the water, he ended up back to were he started.

Out of pure anger and frustration he punched the old wooden dock with his right hand, breaking throw it. He removed his hand and got up to walk back to the tree.

His robes dripped with water and he felt frozen to the bone, he hated this feeling more then anything. He sat next to the tree again and lean his elbows on his knees and put his hands behind his head, looking at the ground.

Maria came over with blanket and some bandages. She sat on his right side. "You don't know how to swim, do you?"

He didn't say anything for a few minutes. "It must seem pretty patheidic to you."

"No, many people can't swim." She took his right hand and started to inspect it. Aside from a few cuts and splinters, nothing seemed broken. She begun cleaning his hand as he remained still, unaffected by the injury. "But that's not what's been bothering you."

"How do you know of this place?"

"Robert de Sable once pointed it out to me on a map. He said it was beautiful here and said he'd take me but plans changed due to you were killing off all his commanders." She laughed. "I thought it would be a nice place to visit just the four of us and I'm glad he was right, it is beautiful."

"If you knew the purpose of this place, you'd have never came here."

She stopped wrapping his hand and looked at him confused. "Why don't you enlighten me then?"

Using his left hand he pointed to his left. "There used to be a large building over there, you can still see the rubble. Someone must have gotten their revenge and burned the place. They used to bring prisoners here and brutally torture them."

He paused a moment. "I know this because I was brought here when I was a novice. They did everything they could think of to me, hopping I would break and reveal the location of the Assassins fortress. This wasn't limited to strapping me in a cage and repeatedly tried drowning me in that lake." He paused again and took a deep breath.

"I remember blacking out a few times but I was revived and before I could do anything, I was tied back into the cage and dropped back into the water while they laughed. It was during one of those revivals I got my chance to grab a guards sword and killed them. It must of taken me two mouths to find my way back to Masyaf. The Master wasn't to impressed with me and beat me for my foolishness. I was thrown into the Masyaf dungeon for being a traitor. He was so sure that I had compromised the creed, after spending a month in there he summoned me to meet with him again. Since no attack had appeared, he believed my story. He was suddenly impressed with my escape and honoured me with my short blade before the other novices could get theirs."

She was shocked, not only by the story but at how calmly he told it. "Why didn't you tell me? I'd have never come here had I known."

"Because till now I was willing to take this information to my grave. I never told Al Mualim everything they did to me. I suspect Malik figures I can't swim but he has no idea how deathly afraid of water I've become." He sighed and watched his sons swimming freely in the water. "Guess I'll never get over it."

She got him to remove his wet robes before draping the blanket over his head. She laid them in the sun to dry before sitting beside him again. "I don't think your as afraid of water like you claim to be."

He gave her confused look. "What would you know of my fear?"

"Well, you say your afraid of water but a few moments ago you were laying on the dock and you seemed relaxed. Despite being accidently knocked in by your son, you managed to pull yourself out. You've also admitted that you're afraid of the water, which was surprising."

She lend beside him as they watched their children continue to play in the water. "It took you a few days to relax around water, you didn't hesitate when I asked you to sit on the dock either. Whether you realize it or not, you are slowly overcoming your fear. You simply aren't acting like someone who's deathly afraid of water."

Altair sighed. "It's only because of my stubbornness was getting the better of me. If I made to big a fuss over your request, you would of became suspicious and I wasn't willing to explain my refusal."

He clenched his left hand. "I regret telling you, to show this weakness. It's shameful for a Grandmaster Assassin to have such fears, any fears. It's-"

She shushed him. "It takes great strength to admit to yourself and even harder to admit to others that you're afraid of something. You're human, my love. There is nothing to be ashamed of, we all fear something. Instead of being ashamed of it, you should try embracing it. You'll only become stronger by doing this."

She smiled as he wrapped his left arm around her and she wrapped her arms around him. "I won't force you to over come this fear but I know you can. Just as you were willing to sit on the dock today, maybe tomorrow you'll be willing to walk in the water, maybe weeks from now you'll wish to go deeper and maybe mouths or years from now you'll wish to learn to swim."

She looked up at him. "It doesn't matter how long it may take, only that you are comfortable and ready to achieve it."

Altair kissed her forehead. "Maybe you're right, this is way I love you."

* * *

><p>Long story short I wanted to write about Altair's fear of water but give him a reason to fear it, not some un-rational reason. I feel I've remained true to Altair's character and believe that's how he would of acted.<p>

I wrote this back in January. I struggled finishing this story because:  
>1. Altair's fear of water has been over done.<br>2. Because I describe a form of torture I didn't fell right and tone it down to a vary general view of it.  
>3. I wasn't sure how to end it. I like my stories to have a meaning or reason in them and I feel, I've final done it.<p>

So enjoy! I hope you like it and it was worth the wait.

Please review or comment! I love the feed back.

(Altair Maria Sef Darim belong to Ubisoft)


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